Flawless OTRS operation even without Linux know-how.

At Livit AG the operating system favored by OTRS, Linux, is not very widespread, which is why the know-how is restricted to only a few employees. Adequate support measures were therefore hard to carry out in a timely way, and updates were not executed on a regular basis. 2014 finally brought a change to the IT environment. The running of the IT infrastructure was to be outsourced and continued internally only with the support of various IT solutions. During the project, the provider offered to additionally provide a new ticket system, including operation and maintenance. The Head of IT Operations at Livit AG Georg Rölli explains the decision to continue using OTRS: “We wanted OTRS mainly because of the many benefits, like keeping the same system instead of using a new one. However, the bottleneck due to insufficient Linux experts continued to exist, because the services of the provider did not include operating Linux. So another solution had to be found.”

For Livit AG, the cloud-based version OTRS came right on time: “The OTRS Cloud solution convinced us from the start with its advantages. The operation and hosting of the data are in the hands of OTRS Specialists, but we can still provide internal support for our employees”, says Rölli. Before the use of OTRS Managed Solution, the IT staff at Livit AG had very little contact with OTRS Employees. “Since we switched to the managed version, we have been extremely satisfied with the support of the OTRS Team. The administration and operation by the OTRS Experts works perfectly and we can take advantage of the full range of services. Solutions are always within the time frames announced, and so far we haven’t had a single disappointment”, states a pleased Rölli regarding the benefits of switching.

The company is overall very excited about OTRS, as it is much easier to use than the previous system: C.A. Unicenter. “For our key users, operating the system is simple and self-explanatory. And our IT team always finds the use of OTRS amazing. By creating our own configurations, we have been able to resolve all the inquiries from various departments in an individualized and absolutely satisfactory way. In addition, OTRS is ITIL-compliant, and since the product comes from Germany, we receive support directly from the manufacturer in our mother tongue”, explains Rölli enthusiastically.

In particular, the IT staff appreciates the possibility of creating templates and customizations for individual departments, without having to pay for services from the manufacturer to complete them. On the other hand, improved graphics capabilities in the tickets – such as new features in the text editor and the new color adjustments, available since version 5 – are very popular among the key users.

Another very revealing aspect for longtime OTRS Users was the conception workshop for the switch, in which the image of the service catalog in OTRS was completely revised: “Now our service queue is streamlined and simply illustrated, reducing bloated structures to what is strictly necessary. The workshop helped us greatly, and by minimizing we were able to improve our overview considerably.” A plan for the future is to start using the customer portal function, so that users can create tickets themselves. Furthermore, additional internal groups and departments with a support function in OTRS will be incorporated, for example the service center to document agreements and communication with the customer in the ticket and to make it available transparently.